


Even the stars they burn

by BadWolf42Clotpole



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, BAMF Arthur, BAMF Morgana, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Or Season 4, Poor Merlin, Protective!Arthur, Sexual Content, Torture, Uther is a douche, We are just going to pretend season 5 didn't happen, merlin whump, morgana isn't evil, protective!knights
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:11:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolf42Clotpole/pseuds/BadWolf42Clotpole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Uther finds out about Merlin's magic and has him imprisoned, Arthur might just become his knight in shining armor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first fic that I have posted, so I don't really understand how to do this stuff yet. This fic takes place somewhere before season 4, except Morgana isn't evil, and Merthur is canon. Gwen and Lancelot are canon too, just because I think they are really cute. Also, Arthur knows about both Morgana and Merlin's magic. As a warning, this story will include some descriptions of torture, and some smut towards the end, so keep that in mind. I also like to use swear words, and they will show up occasionally. The song title comes from the song "I won't give up" by Jason Mraz, and I don't own Merlin!

             Arthur was pacing his room back and forth, impatiently glancing at the door every few seconds. Morgana had said she would be back with the keys a while ago, and Arthur was starting to get edgy. _If I wasn’t locked in this damn room I would already be in the dungeon._ As he passed by the door yet again, this time he could hear two light thumps. The lock on the door scraped open, and Morgana appeared, triumphantly holding the keys to the cells in the dungeon. “Morgana,” Arthur whispered, his eye’s lightening up, “you are a life savor!”

            “Don’t thank me,” she said, handing him the ring full of keys, “just get him out of there.”

            With a nod and a hug, Arthur ran past her and out the door. He passed the unconscious guards slumped against the walls, and smirked triumphantly at Morgana’s handy work.

            When he made it to the dungeon, he snuck past the guards on duty, which wasn’t hard since both of them had fallen asleep. When he got to the cell he was looking for he stopped. “Merlin,” he breathed, his heart breaking. On the floor lay a bloodied and bruised figure, curled into a ball in the corner. Shoving the key into the lock, Arthur unlocked the cell, and quickly hurried into it. Kneeling besides the limp form, he gently placed his hand on Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin gasped and sat up, eyes flashing gold as they flew open. They widened when they saw Arthur, looking at him in confusion.

            “Arthur?” Merlin asked, his voice scratchy and quiet.

            “Yeah it’s me,” Arthur replied, a smile crossing his face, “I’m getting you out of here.” Placing his hands under Merlin, Arthur gently picked him up, cradling his head against his chest. He hurried out of the dungeon, and headed to the stables where Lancelot had a horse with supplies waiting. When Arthur hurried in, he noticed Lancelot still in there, waiting near the horse. Helping Arthur lift Merlin up onto the horse, Lancelot passed Arthur a piece of paper with Gwen’s handwriting. On it was one word: _Ealdor_.

            With a nod, Arthur handed the note back to Lancelot, and mounted the horse himself. Supporting Merlin’s now unconscious body against his torso, Arthur kicked the horse into motion, and with a final nod at Lancelot, headed out into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all of you awesome people for reading this so far!!!!! I am going to upload this chapter today, but I probably won't upload again for a little bit, at least until this weekend anyway. I'm sorry this one is really short, but I needed one more filler chapter. Next chapter will have Merthur angst I promise!

When they arrived in Ealdor, the sun was already setting on the next day. Gwen was waiting for them outside of the village, along with Merlin’s mother. They stopped to help Merlin, who was still unconscious, down off of the horse. Together Gwen and Hunith carried him into Hunith’s house, and set him on the bed. Arthur stood in the doorway while Gwen bustled about getting supplies for Hunith. Looking Merlin over, Arthur could see that most of the wounds that had previously been bleeding had seemed to stop. His wrists were covered in bruises, and when Hunith removed his shirt, Arthur could see more cuts and bruises littering his chest. Covering his neck, were multiple handprints, which only fueled Arthur’s anger even more.  


“Arthur,” Gwen’s voice brought him out of his thoughts, “can you fetch us some water?” With a nod, Arthur slid back outside with the bowl Gwen had handed to him. Clenching his fists in anger, he walked across the empty streets of the little village, looking for the well.  


When he made it back to the house, Gwen took the bowl from him and began to wash out Merlin’s cuts. Leaning back against the door, Arthur watched in silence as Gwen and Hunith began to work over Merlin. Arthur could hear them talking to each other, and listened in on it.  


“His fever seems to be going away for the time being, but we need to bandage up this cut, before it gets infected. Arthur, could you come hold this down please?” Hunith turned towards him, waving a strip of cloth in his direction. Arthur pushed himself off from the wall, and headed towards where Merlin’s slack body was laying. He held the makeshift bandage against a particular deep slice in his torso, while he waited for Hunith to apply a poultice. Throughout the whole time Merlin stayed unconscious, and it was only until Hunith ushered Arthur to a bed, that he left Merlin’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it, sorry again for the shortness. Hopefully will update again soon, and thanks for reading!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow thank you everyone for reading this!! I promised Merthur angst, and here it is kinda. Enjoy...

When Merlin finally awoke, it was to Arthur lightly dozing by the side of his bed. He could see the light streaming in from somewhere but didn’t recognize the surroundings. It took him a moment of glancing around before he realized he was back in Ealdor. Arthur stirred in his sleep, causing Merlin to jump slightly. When Arthur didn’t fully wake up, Merlin relaxed back into his bed. He wasn’t quite ready to deal with what was waiting for him when Arthur woke up. He settled back down against the mattress he was lying on, and tried to fall back asleep

* * *

 

Meanwhile, back in Camelot, Uther was extremely upset. Not only had the sorcerer escaped, but he had taken his son with him. Morgana and the knights were beside themselves with glee, in private of course. In public they behaved how it was expected of them, each showing various states of anger and grief. When Morgana went “missing” a few days after Arthur, Uther was absolutely distraught. His crackdown on magic became ruthless, imprisoning people at the slightest mention of any type of sorcery. He was too worried about Arthur and Morgana to notice a couple of knights had also disappeared.

* * *

 

The next time Merlin woke up, Arthur was also awake. He was still sitting off to the side of Merlin’s bed, but he got up when he saw Merlin was awake. Arthur gently shifted so that he was on the edge of the bed, and smiled slightly.

“You scared me there, you idiot,” Arthur said, trying to sound jokingly, but failed when his voice cracked partway through. Merlin’s hand moved across the blanket, entwining with Arthur’s in a way that was all too familiar. In less then a second, Arthur was pulling Merlin to him, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Resting his head in Arthur’s neck, Merlin hugged him back, tangling his long arms around Arthur. They stayed in that position for a long while, just holding each other.

When they finally broke apart, they were both still for a moment. Suddenly Arthur placed his hands on Merlin’s shoulders, causing Merlin flinched back, jerking his arms partially out of Arthur’s grip. Cursing himself for forgetting, Arthur let go of Merlin and whispered “Sorry,” afraid his voice would break again. He tried to scoot back off of the bed, but Merlin’s hand snaked back to his and grabbed on tight. Arthur looked up to see Merlin leaning back in, and before he knew it they were back to their embrace, only this time Merlin was shaking.

“I’m sorry,” he choked out, tears blocking his words, “I’m sorry, I didn’t-“

“Merlin,” Arthur cut off, raising his hand to lightly to stroke his hair, “It’s okay.” Gently pressing a kiss to the top of his head, Arthur comforted Merlin until his tears finally subsided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again for reading this!! I will try to have the next chapter up (which will hopefully be more Merthur) next weekend. Have an awesome day!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, first of all, thank you for reading this story! Second of all, this is a really short chapter which I am really sorry for. Third of all, Hopefully I will update again next week before Christmas, but otherwise it will be a little after since I am going out of town and probably won't have wifi. So, without further ado, here is Chapter 4!

Eventually Merlin fell back asleep, his head resting on Arthur's lap. Hunith stopped by, smiling when she saw Arthur's fingers running through Merlin's wayward hair.   


It was only hours later, when the sun was setting into the horizon that Morgana showed up, green traveling cloak flowing behind her. All the worry that had been etched into her face washed off when she saw Merlin sitting upright, hand clasping Arthur's. Rushing over, Morgana pulled Merlin into a hug. Letting go of Arthur, Merlin hugged her back, smiling at the excitement Morgana was strongly expressing. When she pulled back, a smile stretched across her face, and tears sparkled in her eyes.   


"I'm glad you both are okay," she whispered, getting up to hug Arthur.  


Just when they started to pull away, Gwen walked in, a slight grin appearing on her face when she saw Morgana.  


Another hug and reunion later, Gwen had taken Morgana away to see Hunith, leaving Merlin and Arthur alone.  


They were currently both laying in the bed, stretched out, hands wrapped together. Arthur turned over to Merlin, and slowly moved his mouth forward. When Merlin didn't back away, Arthur leaned forward all the way, lips gently touching.   


A couple of seconds later Arthur pulled back, and upon seeing the smile that was slowly lighting up Merlin's face, leaned forward again for another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and have a great day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides behind hands* So it's been almost four months since I last posted, but I am going to do it now! I recently took online art and writing classes, and that mixed with piano lessons and an AP class in school was enough to thoroughly stress me out. Now that my art and writing is over, and piano has died down I can find time to update. Thank you for sticking with the story, even when I wasn't updating, you guys are awesome! I'm ignoring the fact that not everyone in Ealdor would probably be accepting of his magic, mainly because I just want Merlin to be happy.

Merlin's recovery was slow, but he was steadily gaining his strength back. A couple weeks later and he was already walking around Ealdor, helping his neighbors out with the odd jobs that they had. It was on one of those afternoons that Arthur found him, his eyes glowing gold as drifts of smoke twirled around children dancing. The kids were jumping around, laughing as the smoke crept around their ankles. Joining his friend in the grass, Arthur couldn't help but smile as the smoke started to encircle him too.

It was a couple of hours after that when the sun started to set, and all the kids were called back inside. Merlin turned his head to glance at Arthur, who was scooting closer to where he was sitting. Now that they were alone, Arthur reached his arm around Merlin's shoulders, pulling him in for a hug. Their lips brushed together and Merlin felt himself moving closer to Arthur. Soon enough Merlin was straddling him, their lips glued together. Merlin felt a hand running up the length of his back, making slow circles on his spine. He jerked back in shock as Arthur's fingers turned into memories of pain and fear, the soft circles turning into lashes of the whip. His chest heaving, Merlin tumbled off of Arthur, eye's widened with fear.

Spluttering curses and apologies, Arthur backed away with his hands held up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry, I wasn't-"

"Arthur, I'm sorry" Merlin broke in, feeling a familiar sense of guilt fill him. Ignoring it, he reached pushing himself off of the ground, he reached his hand down, pulling Arthur up. "We should get inside, it's getting dark out," Merlin said, pulling Arthur along with him. The silence that followed them on the way home was uncomfortable, and Merlin felt the guilt rise up again as he thought of Arthur. A quick glance at his face reassured Merlin that he wasn't mad, but that persistent doubt in his head was telling him otherwise. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That chapter was just kind of a filler, and I'm hoping to do more frequent and better updates now. Have a good week :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seem to be making a habit out of not posting very often, and I do apologize for that. I also would like to add that I normally post most of these chapter's at eleven o'clock or later at night, so if something isn't making sense, or you have a question, feel free to leave a comment (although I might not get back to you right away, as this account is hooked up to an e-mail I don't use that often!) This chapter has a sex scene, and I just want to make it clear now: I am a fifteen year old Virgin, who has only encountered sex in television and fanfiction.

Merlin and Arthur had been sleeping in the same bed for the couple of months in Ealdor, so it wasn’t surprising to find them both together, sheets pooled around their legs. It had been a long week, but Merlin was getting more used to Arthur's presence around him. Uther’s guards hadn’t found them yet, although reports of them stopping in villages near by were flooding back to Ealdor, making both Arthur and Merlin nervous. Morgana and Gwen were both still their too, and were soon joined by Lancelot and Elyan. When only Elyan and Lancelot had shown up, everyone was worried at first, afraid something had happened to the other’s on their journey. Thankfully, Gwaine, Percival, and Leon were still stuck on a patrol, and would be joining back up as soon as they could.

 

Whenever Arthur woke up first, he would lay there, watching Merlin’s peaceful face lost in his dreams. It was nice to see his face gain back the innocence that it had so seldom seen in these past few months.

  
  
It was on one of these early mornings that Arthur sat admiring Merlin, when he awoke. It was nothing dramatic, just his blue eye’s opening up, focusing on the ceiling, and then Arthur. Curling half of his mouth up in a smile, he pulled himself into a sitting position, leaning over to kiss Arthur. Over the past few weeks, Merlin had started becoming less wary of contact with anyone. He had taken to starting kisses with Arthur, and would hold hands with him in public. Arthur was always alert to how Merlin was responding to everything, trying not to scare him off by doing something he wasn’t ready for. This time it seemed different though. Merlin was acting more daring, pulling back, panting. Their eye’s stared into each other's, and soon Merlin’s lips were back, secured onto Arthur’s. Their hips rocking together, Arthur suddenly pulled back, his breath coming quickly. “Merlin, wait,” he breathed, placing his hands on the young warlock’s shoulders, effectively stopping him.

 

“Are you sure you are ready for this?” Arthur asked, removing his hands from Merlin, allowing him to get up. But that wasn’t necessary because Merlin was rolling his eyes and leaning back into to Arthur.

 

“If I wasn’t ready I wouldn’t have started it,” he countered back, before attacking Arthur’s lips again, this time with even more passion. Eventually Arthur relaxed into it, moving their bodies together as one.

 

When they were finished, both gasping and laying on the bed, Arthur looked over to see Merlin looking happier than he had seen him in weeks. Getting lost in each other’s gazes, their wide smiles turned into giggles as Merlin rolled his head into Arthur’s shoulder. For one of the first times since first arriving in Ealdor, Merlin and Arthur were both completely at peace.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did it go? Not very much of a sex scene, I know. Sadly, this is still probably the dirtiest thing I have ever written! I don't know how much more I can pull out of this story, I am thinking somewhere between 3-5 more chapters, but I haven't really planned anything out past this point. Anyways, thank you for reading, and have a good rest of your day.

**Author's Note:**

> So... How did it go? I will definitely be posting more, hopefully within the next couple of days, but for now that's all I've got.


End file.
